
In the age before infomercials and 24-hour programming cycles, VIDEO 50 was frequently used as late night filler on TV stations in Germany, France, Belgium and Switzerland. While it has been screened in numerous film festivals and museums, its from these random and unannounced appearances on late night European television that the majority of people have seen VIDEO 50; in fragments, without any way of figuring out what they were looking at.
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There is something incredibly romantic about this. It’s as if Wilson colluded with broadcasters to provide a visual representation for the dream cycle of a TV station after it has signed off for the day and gone to sleep. The sense that you’re watching a TV dream is underscored by the absence of dialog and a soundtrack composed almost entirely of music and sound effects. As in a dream, what’s seen and what’s heard frequently do not match up, creating weird half-jokes that are funny in a way that’s difficult to describe after the fact.

Tonight there will be a screening of VIDEO 50 at 92Y Tribeca. The event will be introduced by Noah Khoshbin, producer of Robert Wilson’s Voom portraits, and a discussion featuring Katharina Otto Bernstein (director of Absolute Wilson) and Carlos Soto of Girlmachine will follow the screening. This is not one you want to miss.92Y Tribeca and Cinebeasts present VIDEO 50
200 Hudson Street
May 11
8pmMATTHEW CARON

